THE PROBLEM: Electron microscopes are critical for both engineering and medical sciences, but contain a harmful flaw. They are miracle tools for scientists and researchers, with widespread applications in fields like drug design, energy storage, and semiconductor optimization. However, electron microscopes cannot be used without damaging the material they’re magnifying, which alters its properties before an image can be captured. This issue has prevented entire classes of materials and processes from being studied at a molecular level, including living organisms, sensitive biological materials, and more.

THE SOLUTION: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) developed a new compressive sensing technology that overcomes this problem, significantly improving the performance of electron microscopes and other imaging devices. Compared with conventional imaging approaches, PNNL’s compressive sensing technology provides up to 100 times faster image capture and data processing with only 1% of the material damage and no loss of image fidelity. SenseAI Vision licensed this technology to create 2D and 4D scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) tool suites. The technology features a plug-and-play design, allowing it to be used with virtually any other analytical imaging device. This innovation transforms basic microscopes into state-of-the-art instruments, advancing today’s most sophisticated instruments to unlock unprecedented performance.

THE TECH TRANSFER MECHANISM: In 2019, PNNL began licensing discussions with Sivananthan Laboratories to explore the use of the lab’s technology in night vision and other defense applications. A subsidiary of Sivananthan, Nuxutra received an exclusive license to use PNNL’s technology for detectors in night vision cameras. In 2022, however, a research team at the University of Liverpool (UoL) discovered that the PNNL technology could be applied to all types of imaging devices. The UoL group joined with Nuxutra, and they were awarded several Small Business Innovation Research Phase I and Phase II projects by the Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These projects yielded new camera designs and patents for Nuxutra, and UoL patented several other applications of the technology. The two organizations recognized the implications of commingling their strengths and combined intellectual assets under a new company, SenseAI.

THE TECH TRANSFER EXCELLENCE: To make the technology transfer successful, all parties had to disclose their relevant intellectual property and its maturity to allow a fair assessment of how royalties should be distributed. They had to put aside competing issues and consider the greater impact that the technology would deliver from the combination of assets. Because the transfer involved licensing from both the U.K. and the U.S., SenseAI had to demonstrate economic benefits in each country.

THE IMPACT: Together, UoL and Nuxutra shaped a new vision of developing and commercially deploying AI-driven compressive sensing software that solved the problems in electron microscopy and enhanced the performance of all types of analytical imaging devices. This commercialization sets the stage for countless discoveries and significant advancements in imaging research capabilities across a wide range of fields in science, engineering, and medicine — and it opens the door to the study of entirely new materials and systems. In several case studies in the U.K., SenseAI software has helped institutes speed up analysis, resolve data management issues, increase processing power, and reduce sample damage.